Your Email:

Subject:

Message:
Entry: The Judicial Shakedown Link: http://www.takimag.com/site/article/the_judicial_shakedown#27234 Post contents: Again, speaking only for myself, what I was obliquely getting at in the earlier lengthy quotes was that it seems that if the politicians keep telling us (using the word to describe the society as a whole, not particluar individuals, and certainly not me) one thing, and then doing another, and we keep going along with it, then we must really be acquiescing in the train of events as they really are, not as they are promised to be. And this would be because we must at bottom really not want to change to the way things are promised to be. Thus the reference to the "culture of death", or as has been said, the "cult of individualism": we don't really want someone else mandating legally (or in many cases not even morally) how we should behave, even if the mandate would be in favor of traditionally approved social norms and solidarity. So the problem lies in our hearts, and it is at this level that the profound changes must occur in order for our society to be restored. Nevertheless, since the political realm has an educative function, if our political leaders would follow proper rules of conduct it would help to form the social order for the good. To that end, I call to your attention the following beatitudes for politicans from Cardinal Francis Xavier Nguyen van Thuan, one of the true heroes of the twentieth century (and member of the Ngo Dinh family, perhaps the greatest Vietnamese patriotic family, which gave the country the brothers Diem, Nhu, Thuc and Can, among only the most recent): 1. Blessed the politician who well understands his role in the world. 2. Blessed the politician who personally exemplifies credibility. 3. Blessed the politician who works for the common good and not for his own interests. 4. Blessed the politician who is true to himself, his faith and his electoral promises. 5. Blessed the politician who works for unity and makes Jesus the fulcrum of its defence. 6. Blessed the politician who works for radical change, refusing to call good that which is evil and using the Gospel as a guide. 7. Blessed the politician who listens to the people before, during and after the elections, and who listens to God in prayers. 8. Blessed the politician who has no fear of the truth or the mass media, because at the time of judgment he will answer only to God, not the media. See http://www.card-fxthuan.org/ Sent at: 2008 12 01